Off-plan apartments: AED 1,721,996 median
47,448 priced apartment records sit in the tracked UAE off-plan book, 90% of every priced record in the corpus, published across 2,230 projects. The median asks AED 1,721,996 for 894 sqft, which is AED 2,047 per sqft. Half of the book sits between AED 1,200,000 and AED 2,655,000, and between 684 and 1,285 sqft.
Ranked on the ticket it is the 5th dearest of 5 tracked types, but ranked on price per square foot it is the 3rd. Floor area, not the label, is what moves the asking price. Dubai carries 38,559 of the records, 81% of the type, at a median AED 1,725,232 and AED 2,084 per sqft. Prices are developer asking prices on published unit tables, not transactions.
The type in context
| Type | Priced records | Projects | Median price | Median sqft | AED/sqft |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apartment | 47,448 | 2,230 | AED 1.72M | 894 | 2,047 |
| Villa | 2,210 | 500 | AED 7.81M | 4,406 | 1,774 |
| Townhouse | 1,936 | 404 | AED 3.66M | 2,418 | 1,320 |
| Duplex | 860 | 304 | AED 5.26M | 2,263 | 2,329 |
| Penthouse | 368 | 257 | AED 13.4M | 4,695 | 3,163 |
Records count unit rows, projects count schemes, and one scheme can publish more than one type. The type label is the developer's own, so a serviced tower and a plain tower both file as apartments.
By emirate
| Emirate | Priced records | Median price | Median sqft | AED/sqft | vs UAE price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dubai | 38,559 | AED 1.73M | 835 | 2,084 | +0% |
| Ajman | 2,266 | AED 1.04M | 1,285 | 762 | -40% |
| Ras Al Khaimah | 2,234 | AED 2.54M | 964 | 2,712 | +47% |
| Umm Al Quwain | 1,983 | AED 1.87M | 777 | 2,649 | +8% |
| Abu Dhabi | 1,076 | AED 3.67M | 1,668 | 1,928 | +113% |
| Sharjah | 1,070 | AED 1.54M | 1,277 | 1,252 | -11% |
Every emirate publishing at least one apartment record, largest book first. A thin book moves on very little, so read the record count before the median.
By bedroom count
| Bedrooms | Priced records | Share of the type | Median price | Median sqft | AED/sqft | Entry (p25 price) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Studio | 8,078 | 17% | AED 834K | 379 | 2,290 | AED 756K |
| 1 BR | 19,098 | 40% | AED 1.46M | 771 | 1,886 | AED 1.17M |
| 2 BR | 15,388 | 32% | AED 2.41M | 1,236 | 2,014 | AED 1.72M |
| 3 BR | 4,281 | 9% | AED 4.09M | 1,874 | 2,085 | AED 2.92M |
| 4 BR | 533 | 1% | AED 10.4M | 3,382 | 3,190 | AED 6.24M |
| 5 BR | 54 | 0% | AED 36.3M | 7,630 | 3,678 | AED 8.94M |
40% of the apartments in the book sit on the 1 BR rung, which is what the headline median is really describing. Rungs with fewer than 20 priced records inside this type are dropped. The same rungs across every type are compared in the property type note. How this product sits against the addresses that sell it: the community median is priced for the flat next door.
Terms and delivery
| Handover year | 2026 | 2027 | 2028 | 2029 | 2030 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Projects publishing apartments | 394 | 568 | 444 | 232 | 54 |
| Share of the dated book | 23% | 34% | 26% | 14% | 3% |
2027 is the heaviest year for apartments, carrying 34% of the 1,692 projects that publish a completion date between 2026 and 2030. Plan shares keep only published instalment tables whose steps sum to between 90% and 110%. Handover dates are the developer's own target and are frequently revised.
Cheapest and dearest communities
| Cheapest ten | Median price | Sqft | AED/sqft | Records |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Al Amerah | AED 622K | 1,197 | 511 | 320 |
| Al Ameera Village | AED 672K | 1,189 | 546 | 104 |
| Al Nahda | AED 811K | 795 | 991 | 83 |
| Dubailand | AED 876K | 355 | 2,208 | 2,245 |
| Al Jaddaf | AED 892K | 358 | 2,281 | 1,237 |
| International City | AED 925K | 691 | 1,324 | 384 |
| Al Warsan | AED 930K | 786 | 1,200 | 221 |
| Dubai Investments Park | AED 965K | 541 | 1,728 | 1,627 |
| Downtown Jebel Ali | AED 1.02M | 667 | 1,614 | 186 |
| Al Shamkha | AED 1.03M | 777 | 1,154 | 61 |
| Dearest ten | Median price | Sqft | AED/sqft | Records |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Al Safa | AED 25.4M | 4,622 | 5,400 | 28 |
| Jumeirah | AED 23.0M | 4,458 | 6,972 | 32 |
| Palm Jumeirah | AED 16.8M | 2,636 | 5,817 | 196 |
| Dubai Marina | AED 11.8M | 2,172 | 4,786 | 188 |
| Zabeel 1&2 | AED 8.69M | 2,020 | 4,304 | 26 |
| Fahid Island | AED 8.08M | 2,134 | 3,700 | 38 |
| Saadiyat Island | AED 7.72M | 2,243 | 3,103 | 208 |
| DIFC | AED 7.70M | 2,347 | 4,181 | 41 |
| Al Wasl | AED 7.12M | 1,916 | 3,424 | 226 |
| Dubai Harbour | AED 6.30M | 1,599 | 4,100 | 250 |
103 communities publish at least 25 priced apartment records. On price per sqft rather than ticket, the range runs from AED 511 in Al Amerah to AED 6,972 in Jumeirah, a 13.6x spread on the same type.
Apartment benchmarks by address
Each of these reads apartments inside one community: the distribution, which schemes still sell them, what the same address charges for a different product, and how it compares with its peers. A community appears only where apartments are a real slice of its book rather than the whole of it.
By developer
| Developer | Priced records | Median price | Median sqft | AED/sqft |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Azizi | 6,529 | AED 1.23M | 671 | 2,174 |
| Sobha Realty | 5,527 | AED 2.17M | 776 | 2,799 |
| Binghatti | 4,486 | AED 1.40M | 710 | 3,450 |
| Reportage | 1,916 | AED 981K | 575 | 1,710 |
| GJ | 1,813 | AED 1.03M | 1,349 | 706 |
| Danube | 1,265 | AED 2.28M | 806 | 2,635 |
| DAMAC | 1,204 | AED 1.94M | 1,049 | 1,672 |
| Emaar | 1,155 | AED 2.77M | 1,244 | 2,241 |
| Object 1 | 1,114 | AED 1.37M | 770 | 1,772 |
| BNW | 858 | AED 2.44M | 879 | 2,682 |
| Arada | 556 | AED 2.61M | 1,650 | 1,344 |
| Tiger Properties | 546 | AED 1.76M | 916 | 2,202 |
| Meraas | 520 | AED 3.67M | 1,574 | 2,706 |
| Union P.J.S.C | 402 | AED 2.44M | 1,260 | 1,944 |
| Aldar | 387 | AED 3.55M | 1,947 | 1,952 |
| Deyaar | 387 | AED 1.82M | 1,183 | 1,682 |
| Dubai Investments | 372 | AED 2.31M | 1,182 | 2,324 |
| Alef | 330 | AED 1.48M | 1,167 | 1,276 |
| Dugasta | 324 | AED 1.56M | 791 | 1,974 |
| Nakheel | 306 | AED 2.85M | 1,661 | 2,140 |
Largest published book on this type first, capped at 20. A developer selling one large scheme can outrank a developer with a dozen small ones, because this counts unit records rather than projects.
Questions this data answers
How much does an off-plan apartment cost in the UAE?+
As of July 2026, the median asking price for an off-plan apartment across the UAE is AED 1,721,996, on a median 894 sqft, which works out at AED 2,047 per sqft. Half of all 47,448 priced records sit between AED 1,200,000 and AED 2,655,000.
What does an off-plan apartment cost in Dubai specifically?+
The Dubai median is AED 1,725,232 on 835 sqft, AED 2,084 per sqft, across 38,559 priced records. That is 0% above the UAE median for the same type.
Where are the cheapest off-plan apartments?+
By median asking price, the cheapest tracked communities for an off-plan apartment are Al Amerah (AED 622,000), Al Ameera Village (AED 671,617), Al Nahda (AED 811,231), Dubailand (AED 876,000), Al Jaddaf (AED 892,000). Each publishes at least 25 priced apartment records.
Which developers build the most off-plan apartments?+
By published priced records, the largest apartment books belong to Azizi (6,529 records), Sobha Realty (5,527 records), Binghatti (4,486 records), Reportage (1,916 records), GJ (1,813 records). Record counts favour developers selling large schemes, so read them as book size rather than as a quality ranking.
The full report: every community, every developer, ranked.
Off-plan apartments in context: price per sqft by community and developer, payment plan structures ranked by cash due before handover, the 2026 to 2029 delivery pipeline, and the CSV behind every table. PDF plus data, delivered instantly.
Computed by OffplanIndex from developer-published inventories, July 2026. A priced record is one unit row carrying an asking price, so a tower publishing 400 rows counts 400 times and a villa book publishing a single from price counts once. Aggregates are ours; the underlying listings belong to the developers who published them. Not investment advice. Method and exclusions: methodology. The same book cut by bedroom count: off-plan by bedroom.